I just got all of my new gear in the mail (listed below). My SSD has a previous install of Windows 8.1 on it.
I am unable to boot to the CD if I'm in AHCI mode for the SSD (bluray can be in either IDE or AHCI mode for this to happen). But when I get to the beginning of the install where windows asks me which HD I want to install it on, it tells me the HD is unable to accept that installation. It tells me, "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. This computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk. Ensure that the disk's controller is enabled in the computer's BIOS menu."
After doing some research, I find it's because the SSD is in IDE mode and windows wants it to be in AHCI mode. BUT I can't get passed the "spinning" loading icon if the SSD is in IDE mode. The previous installation of windows is in AHCI mode, I double checked by putting the SSD back into my laptop and rightclick on mycomputer, properties, device manager, yes the SATA drive is AHCI.
So then I read that it's possible that the AHCI drivers need to be manually found in the 'hard drive select' screen, from a USB. But I did in fact try to select the AMD AHCI drivers from USB, and it acted like the flash drive was empty. So I'm officially out of ideas.
Rig:
CPU Fx-8350
MOBO Asus Sabertooth 990fx R2.0
RAM 8gb Corsair 1600 MHz (BIOS sees it as 1333 MHz!!)
COOLING Cooler master Evo 212
GFX GTX 260 OC